Miniaturization of electronic components, increases in processing capabilities, and decreases in the cost of electronic components enable consumer electronic devices to implement a variety of features and abilities. Telephones that previously were tethered to wire lines now commonly take the form of wireless devices that provide a user with the capabilities to communicate from virtually anywhere.
Wireless phones themselves have evolved to include numerous features and abilities not available in models from just a few years ago. It is now common for wireless telephones to have the ability to take digital pictures and transmit the pictures to networked devices, such as personal computers.
A challenge for designers of modern electronic devices is to provide an equal or greater level of complexity that consumers are accustomed to receiving in a device while simultaneously reducing the price. Typically, a designer is presented with one or more models or suppliers for any particular component implemented within a device. However, a lower cost component may provide a lower level of performance.
The lower level of performance may exhibit itself in any of a variety of measures. For example, a lower priced component may have reduced durability or lifespan compared to a higher priced component. Similarly, a lower priced component may only be capable of providing lower performance. For example, lower cost processors may not have the ability to provide the same processing speed as a higher priced processor. Similarly, a low priced display may not have the resolution of a higher priced display.
Ideally, the designer is able to select sufficiently low cost items that minimize the cost to the consumer for the finished electronic device while providing substantially the same value to the consumer as a comparable electronic device implementing higher priced components. To further complicate the analysis, the value and performance attributed to an electronic device is not measured purely by objective criteria, but may be affected by consumer perception.